Portable shelters such as tents are common means of shelter widely used by human beings. In industrialized countries, such structures are typically associated with recreation, although they may often be used for temporary shelter from the elements. Historically, one of the principal difficulties or drawbacks associated with the use of portable structures or tents have been problems associated with erecting the structures in place. Most frames or supports for tents include a large number of individual pieces, which can be lost, or which may require substantial amount of time or skill in order to assemble into the erect tent structure. Sometimes the erection of a portable structure can be a complex task which may require more than one person.
There have been structures proposed before for tents which might be described as self-erecting. In such structures, a pre-stressed band of material forms the framework for the tent. The material or band can be deformed into another stable shape in which it can be compactly stored. Generally the erection of such a structure involves deforming the structural material so that it will resiliently assume the shape associated with the erected tent.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,667 to Miller describes a self-erecting tent in which a resilient support member forms the entire perimeter of the tent, and the resilient support member can be folded into a coiled configuration so that the tent can be compactly stored.
A Mr. Norman patented several variations on portable tents, or other structures, which similarly used a continuous loop of flexible coiled resilient material as the structural member of the tent. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,161, a continuously but flexible flat spring steel stock is used in a saddle-like configuration to form the top and sides of the tent, and which may be coiled upon itself to compress the tent into a compact configuration. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,463, a similar flexible loop of resilient material is used for the structure of the tent, with the material being formed in the shape of a figure eight, with each loop of the figure eight forming one side of the tent. A related structure utilizing a figure eight design by the same Mr. Norman is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,892. U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,812 describes a self-erecting structure with a series of side members which may be coiled, and which may self-erect into a self-supporting structure.